Amal clooney presented with the Glen Ifill press freedom award

by annemarie Tue 14 Jul 2020, 17:01

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[size=40]Amal Clooney
International Press Freedom Awards
[/size]

CPJ is honored to present its 2020 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award, for extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom, to lawyer Amal Clooney.

Clooney specializes in public international law, international criminal law, and human rights. She has represented clients before courts such as the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. She also provides advice to governments and individuals on legal issues in her areas of expertise.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.](Getty Images/Monica Schipper)
Clooney previously served as a senior adviser to Kofi Annan when he was the U.N.’s envoy on Syria. She also served as counsel to the U.N. inquiry on the use of armed drones. She is a member of the U.K.’s team of experts on preventing sexual violence in conflict zones, and she is on the U.K. attorney general’s expert panel on public international law. In 2019 she was appointed the U.K.’s special envoy on media freedom and deputy chair of the independent High Level Panel of Legal ExpertsExternal link set up at the request of the governments of the U.K. and Canada to advise on legal issues relating to press freedom. CPJ advises the panel from time to time.

Clooney is a strong advocate for press freedom and the rights of journalists. She served as international counsel for Reuters and the media organization’s journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were arrested in Myanmar in December 2017 and sentenced to seven years in prison under the country’s Official Secrets Act for their reporting on crimes committed against the Rohingya by Myanmar forces. Clooney worked with CPJ on the journalists’ case and, together with Reuters and CPJ, advocatedExternal link on behalf of the Reuters reporters and other journalists imprisoned around the world at the United Nations. In her remarks at the U.N., she called the journalists’ convictions and sentence a “travesty of justice” and outlined their defense case. In May 2019, the two journalists were freed.

Prior to this, Clooney represented award-winning Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who was persecuted by Azerbaijani authorities for yearsExternal link. Ismayilova was jailed in December 2014 and sentencedExternal link to seven and a half years in prison on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement, allegations that CPJ believed were in retaliation for her reporting. For years, CPJ, too, advocated for her freedom. Clooney represented Ismayilova before the European Court of Human Rights, securing a strong judgment in her favor. In May 2016, Ismayilova was released from prison. “Her release is a victory for all journalists who dare to speak truth to power,” Clooney said at the time.

Clooney also represented Mohamad Fahmy, a Canadian journalist who was one of three Al-Jazeera journalists imprisonedExternal link in Egypt in 2013. Fahmy was sentencedExternal link to three years in prison on charges of terrorism and spreading false news. The charges spurred international condemnation, and CPJ repeatedly called for the journalists’ release. In September 2015, Fahmy was freedExternal link and thanked his “remarkable and courageous” lawyer Amal Clooney.

Clooney also promotes freedom of speech and journalism through the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which she co-founded with her husband George Clooney. One of their flagship initiatives, TrialWatch, monitors the trials of journalists worldwide and provides free legal representation for those in greatest need. The initiative grades the fairness of each trial in order to rank judicial systems on a global justice index that will be used to push for systemic reform. CPJ works closely with TrialWatch on many of these cases and has supported Clooney’s calls for legal and policy reform—including the use of sanctions against officials who silence reportersExternal link—to better protect a free press.

CPJ is deeply grateful to Clooney for her contributions to the cause of press freedom. Clooney has been a strong supporter of CPJ’s advocacy in recent years and has taken up the call for governments to provide emergency visas to journalists in distress. She is currently representing Maria RessaExternal link, CPJ’s 2018 Gwen Ifill award winner, who has been convicted of cyber libel, a criminal offense, in the Philippines.

Shahidul Alam, Bangladesh >
Mohammad Mosaed, Iran >
Dapo Olorunyomi, Nigeria >
Svetlana Prokopyeva, Russia >

Main Awards >

by Admin Thu 29 Oct 2020, 11:06

So, this is going to happen next month?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Amal Clooney to receive Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists
BY JUDY KURTZ - 10/28/20 12:14 PM EDT

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
[size=11] Getty images

Amal Clooney is poised to receive a top award from a press freedom-focused nonprofit.

The international human rights lawyer and philanthropist will be honored with the 2020 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists next month, the group announced Wednesday.

Actress Meryl Streep will present Clooney, who's married to actor and director George Clooney, with the award as part of a virtual ceremony on Nov. 19. Four journalists will also be honored during the International Press Freedom Awards, including Shahidul Alam, Mohammad Mosaed, Dapo Olorunyomi and Svetlana Prokopyeva.

“In times of unprecedented uncertainty, it’s journalists who are out there, gathering the facts and trying to help us make sense of it all. By asking tough questions, and pursuing the truth at any cost, they are essential workers — serving the public and protecting democracy,” Streep said in a statement announcing the award recipients.

Last month, Clooney stepped down from her position as the United Kingdom's special envoy on press freedom. She said in her resignation letter that she was "dismayed" over the government's effort to breach international law.

In remarks last year, Clooney, 42, slammed world leaders for responding with “little more than a collective shrug” to the killing of U.S.-based Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi national.

“As James Madison, one of America’s Founding Fathers, warned us more than 200 years ago, the right to a free press is the only effectual guardian of every other right,” Clooney said at a London conference
[/size]

[size=18].
[/size]

Amal clooney presented with the Glen Ifill press freedom award

Amal clooney presented with the Glen Ifill press freedom award

Re: Amal clooney presented with the Glen Ifill press freedom award